Lake Situ Gunung, West Java, Indonesia. That’s where crowds do not flock. If you had a chance to view it from up above, it would look like a small bowl of water held between forested mountains and a symmetry of pine trees. The air around the lake is silent at any time of the day. When the occasional grumblings from the crickets and the cicadas rise up, there is a mingling of the fauna and the flora. Though the lake and its surroundings look pristinely beautiful at any time of the day, the best time to take in the atmospheric views is just before and during sunrise. When the rains pour down overnight, early mornings can be very misty and it creates layers of white sheets just above the water. Once the first rays of the sun descend on the valley, they mingle with the mist to transform the entirity of nature into a spectacular scenery. I reached here around 4.30 am to witness the ghostly form of the trees, the mountains beyond and the lake itself. Up above, the moon was still pretty bright though getting ready to give up the spacial realm to a mightier force. Its reflection on the still water was a spectral sight. The landscape in front of me wore a dark shroud reflected by the lake in clinical precision. Its outline looked like a giant bowtie stretching from left to right with the twin mountains in the background. Come 5 am, the sky was slowly brightening, revealing the greenery in front of me little by little. The mist was pronounced and clear among the trees. It seemed to flow in a milky white formation, blending in with the darkness to produce a contrast. Another 15 minutes, the first rays got reflected by the clouds above, brightening the air around the lake even more. That revealed a small island in the midst of the lake with beautiful plants. The mist got even thicker beyond the island where the trees are, uncovering the outlines of men. There were two, or three, near a makeshift tent, sitting on their haunches. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but then, all of a sudden, one gets up excitedly with a rod, trying to lift something from the water hurriedly. The fishermen had been there all night. They were both patient and persistent in waiting to get a bounty that would fetch some wherewithal for the week. These fishermen come from remote Sundanese villages around Sukabumi and some as far away as Pelabuhan Ratu. Some lakes and rivers are identified by certain fishing communities as “their own.” That’s deemed to be more of a nature’s rule than having anything to do with legalities.